Day 63
Yet again we wave "see ya later" to Daisy.
The news from the late night engine fixing this morning wasn't good, but that wasn't a huge surprise given: 1) the problem with the gearbox; 2) that Olly and Jan had been working on it for hours; 3) Olly was obviously preparing contingency plans last night with Claire.
The actual news was that the bearings in the gearbox had gone (I looked at their remains and the whilst I know little about gearboxes I do know that bearings aren't meant to look like they did - misshaped pieces of metal, in pieces, and oil which was a bad colour despite being new) and that we'd be taking a taxi from where we were (the side of the road, just off a motorway slipway) to the nearest town (140km away) and then by public bus to where we actually needed to go to (Urumqi).
As I write this I'm at the tail end of a 6 hour coach journey across the desert, where the aircon (luxury!) on the coach had got the insides down to a cool 28 degC.
It gives me an idea of what travel in South America will be like.
Jan and Claire (translator and knower of local things) stayed with Daisy to get her fixed, which based on overhearing half conversations Olly is having with Jan (very good mobile coverage here) appears to be going fairly well - although it is probably going to be a good few days until we see her again - if nothing else she needs to be towed the 140km and that won't be happening until tomorrow at the earliest.
